Guest Book

I wanted to say some things last night but eyes where to cloudy and thoughts just did not seem to be coherent. Most people here did not know my brother, but knew him from the good things said on this guest book. I do thank you all for your words. Brother Mike was a man who loved and lived life, I mean he lived life to its fullest. Many time dealt a bad hand during his life, but never lost the spirit to live, and party. Some say that was his down fall, but I tell you that is what kept him going. Few people could work being all messed up and still gets the job done with expert care. He took his job very serious just like the Band did. Which we all know showed in the music. I've seen the Mander take a sound system that God could not figure out how to get it to work, and with wires running everywhere and talking numbers the whole time, ( ha ha inside joke, Kim Payne knows about those numbers ), would get the job done. Above all, the job must get done. The man could get sound out of a turnip. Brother Mike, brother Kim Payne, brother Twiggs, and I were in the heat of battle together for the first year or so. Starving, getting thinner and thinner every day for the first three years. We had brother JoDan, Willie P, and Tuffy join up after about a year or so. We were still at the bottom of the tree No mon, just good music hard work, many sleepless night driving to the next gig. No matter we were all together and having fun. Mike, Kim, and I over the years have not hung out together, We would talk every now and then on the phone, but we did not have to. There was a bond that could not be broken. We were in tune with each other in just knowing you got two partners that will, when the chips are down, be standing tall right beside you. We worked for no money the first year. I gave my disability check to the band every month to live on. Kim road a 350 Honda across country to join up. That ride beat the man to death. But the name of the game was get to the gig. We lived, drake, and screwed to that tune. You do not find that kind of dedication every day. I will not try to hid the hurt that I feel. I loved this man. He is part of my soul. His passing has put tears in my old hard ass eyes. I will miss him more than I can say, just hoping that the good book is for real and I will see him again one day. Do it brother Mikes' way, party up and know the brother hurts no more. Live life and have fun. Put a smile on someone's face and watch yours light up. We hurt today, but remember the troops, and keep that one eye open. We all, are at one time, or another, are caught in the room full of darkness, like the drifter on the plains surrounded by the times of the past.